Three Little Sticks Sticking Up Inside a Circle

The best way to curb your curiosity was for something even more intriguing to come along.

Just then, Jin Ling'er called me.

I didn't answer. I set my phone on the table, deliberately leaving the screen flashing where Du Le could see it.

Sure enough, he stopped stamping his feet, his eyes lighting up as he urged me, "Answer it! Answer it! Has something happened with Cai Wen?"

Only after Du Le kept prodding me did I calmly pick up the phone.

The instant the call connected, Du Le switched it to speakerphone for me.

I glanced at him with a smile and asked, "Jin Ling'er, what's up?"

Jin Ling'er said, "Cai Wen introduced me to a guy. He just asked me out, but I'm a little uneasy, so I thought I'd ask you."

I gave Du Le an amused look, and he chuckled awkwardly.

I knew it. This guy must have been spreading the word about me.

And whatever came out of his mouth wasn't necessarily flattering.

I counted on my fingers and said, "As long as you don't get your hopes up, there's no harm in going out and broadening your horizons."

"Huh? I don't get it." In certain respects, Jin Ling'er was every bit as innocent as Du Le.

"It won't work out, but you won't be in danger." She just had to make me spell it out so bluntly.

Beside me, Du Le covered his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

After hanging up, I remarked to Sun Qirui, "Being around clever people wears out your brain. Being around innocent people wears out your mouth."

Sun Qirui laughed without saying anything, but Du Le looked a little puzzled. "Are you talking about Jin Ling'er or me?"

"Not bad, not bad! You actually picked up on all those layers of meaning!" I said with a laugh.

"Are you... complimenting me?" Du Le asked, deeply uncertain. "Why does it sound kind of off?"

Du Le's wildly fluctuating intelligence had always kept us all entertained.

After we'd joked around for a while, I stood up to head home.

Du Le held me back. "Stay a little longer! Maybe once Jin Ling'er's date is over, she'll have a funny story for us! Come on, stay!"

It really had been a while since we'd gotten together, and Sun Qirui didn't seem in any hurry to leave either, so I settled back down.

As soon as I sat down, Jin Ling'er called again.

That fast?!

Du Le and I exchanged a look. A date that ended in just a few minutes?!

While I was still stunned, Du Le grabbed my phone and answered it himself. "Jin Ling'er, it's Du Le. Looking for Sanhe?"

Du Le had put it on speakerphone.

"Oh, you're together. It's nothing, really. I just ran into a lunatic and wanted to vent to you guys. Otherwise, I might be too angry to sleep tonight," Jin Ling'er said, holding back her fury.

"What happened? Your date ended that quickly?" I asked.

"Hmph! If you'd been clearer earlier, I wouldn't have gone downstairs in the first place!" Jin Ling'er turned her anger on me.

I went, "?!"

I looked innocently at Du Le and Sun Qirui. Hadn't I been clear enough?

Jin Ling'er explained furiously, "Some old man showed up in a crappy car, acting all high and mighty, thinking he was some rich guy. Does he think I've never seen money before? I'm so mad!"

"That doesn't make sense. If he was that confident, surely he had at least some reason for it? What kind of crappy car was he driving?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know car brands!" Jin Ling'er said.

"What did the logo look like?" I asked.

"A circle with three little sticks sticking up inside it. Skinny ones, too!" Jin Ling'er snapped.

Sun Qirui hadn't joined our discussion at all and had been leisurely sipping his cola, but those three skinny little sticks made him spray it out.

I wondered whether Mercedes-Benz would feel hurt if they heard that.

"Didn't I tell you not to get your hopes up?" I asked.

Jin Ling'er was suddenly at a loss for words.

After a long pause, she snapped in embarrassment, "Wang Sanhe! Why do you have to be so infuriating?!"

"Hahahaha! If I'd just told you not to go downstairs, how would you have seen for yourself how interesting the world could be?" I genuinely hoped she could experience the world's variety from different angles, as long as she didn't get hurt.

"That's because you didn't see what that old man looked like!" Jin Ling'er said, exasperated.

"If he got you this angry, we can already picture him. Jin Ling'er, don't be mad. Calm down, okay? Next time, we just won't go," Du Le hurriedly soothed her.

"Next time?! I think hearing the word 'boyfriend' is going to make me sick for the rest of my life. How could that old face possibly belong anywhere near the word 'boyfriend'!!!" Jin Ling'er sounded close to losing her mind.

It wasn't very kind of us, but the three of us on our end couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"Not a single man is any good!" Jin Ling'er was now angry enough to start attacking innocent bystanders.

"Now, that's where you're wrong!" I gently reasoned with her. "We weren't the ones who introduced that old man to you. If you want to curse someone, curse the person who set you up. You should be saying that not a single woman is any good, especially the pretty ones!"

My reasoning left Jin Ling'er completely confused.

Du Le discreetly gave me a thumbs-up, then said, "Jin Ling'er, think about it this way. Sooner or later, each of us men will be somebody's boyfriend, too. That word will apply to us as well. Think about the three of us. Doesn't that make the word seem a little less disgusting?"

Sun Qirui kindly tried to talk her around, too. "Jin Ling'er, the logo you just described was Mercedes-Benz. Whatever else happened tonight, at least you learned a car brand, right? You still got something out of it."

With all of us chiming in and talking her around, Jin Ling'er was soon led off track. "That crappy car was a Mercedes-Benz? I've heard people say you ride in a Mercedes-Benz and drive a BMW. So Mercedes-Benz isn't all that impressive after all. Next time, I'll take a look at someone who drives a BMW."

"Right, right, right. You can't give up eating just because you choked once. There'll be a good one out there," we hastily reassured her.